Re: "The Fugitive: Season 1, Volume 2" -- A Personal Review
Here's something I wrote a couple of years ago which has a fun
"Fugitive" connection to it. It's a tongue-in-cheek
"Mock Trial" kind of thing revolving around Kimble's specific alibi that he used at his Indiana trial.
I inserted former Los Angeles prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi into this simulated court scenario, because he is my favorite lawyer (and favorite true-crime author as well).
VB's book on the JFK assassination is easily the best book ever written on the subject. (But, that's another kettle of fish altogether.)
It would appear, though, as if I'm placing my favorite attorney into a situation where he is, indeed, trying to convict an innocent man.
Well, I guess this will be merely the second defeat in Bugliosi's career. In real life, VB lost only 1 felony jury trial that he was involved in; and he was 21-0 in murder cases, so this "trial" will be a "Perry Mason" moment for Vince--his first-ever loss at a murder trial (assuming, that is, that the Stafford jury comes back with the proper verdict of "Not Guilty"; but, ya never can tell with juries).
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Quote:
| Actually, it wasn't that dark at the point when {accused murderer Dr. Richard} Kimble sees the boy in the rowboat. |
OK. 10-4. Point taken.
However -- there's still a pretty big problem/hurdle for Doctor Kimble
and his defense team to overcome in this timeline regard.
And that is:
If Kimble sees the boy fishing at a time quite a bit EARLIER than the
murder (which he obviously DID, seeing as how Kimble sees the killer
{one-armed man Fred Johnson} emerging from the Kimble house and picks
him up in his headlights, which was obviously AFTER DUSK) -- this
leaves an opening for the prosecution to argue (and rightly so) that
Kimble would have easily had enough time to get back home to murder his
wife, Helen, AFTER seeing the boy fishing in the rowboat.*
* = Unless the defense wants to argue the ridiculously-silly point that
Johnson murdered Helen Kimble, but did not exit the house right away
after the killing (possibly deciding to clean up in the bathtub or get
a bite to eat before departing the Kimble residence, a la the
Tate-LaBianca {Manson} killers on their two nights of senseless
slaughter in August 1969).
Obviously, the "delayed departure" argument is a stupid one that likely
never happened. Which means that even if Dr. Kimble IS telling the
truth about seeing a boy fishing (before dusk has fallen) and about
Johnson fleeing the murder scene and catching a glimpse of the killer
"in the headlights" (i.e., after dark), it still wouldn't necessarily
indicate a rock-solid alibi for Dick Kimble.
A good prosecutor like Vincent T. Bugliosi would certainly have
hammered home this "timeline" snafu re. Kimble's alibi and would have
exploited its weaknesses in front of the jury.
Let's listen in as Vince B. makes just such an argument to the Stafford
County (Indiana) jury of twelve.....
"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury.....this defense team of attorneys
wants you good folks to believe that just because Doctor Kimble saw a
young lad fishing on the lake at approx. 5:50 PM EST on September 17th,
1961, this gives the good doctor an ironclad, fool-proof, non-skid
alibi for the EXACT TIME OF HELEN KIMBLE'S MURDER!!
Well, ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to tell this defense team that
IT'S NOT QUITE THAT EASY! It's not at all that easy!
For even if Doctor Kimble DID see young Mr. Smith fishing, alone, on
the lake near Stafford Point on the east side of town...the doctor
could STILL have easily gotten back home in time to murder his wife.
This timeline has been PROVEN by members of the prosecution staff,
ladies and gentlemen! It was proven via three separate re-enactments!
What it comes down to, ladies and gentlemen, is that Doctor Kimble, in
reality, HAS NO USEFUL ALIBI WHATSOEVER FOR THE PRECISE TIME WHEN IT
WAS DETERMINED BY THE STAFFORD COUNTY CORONER THAT HELEN KIMBLE WAS
BEING BRUTALLY SLAUGHTERED!
[Long Pause.....]
Ladies and gentlemen,
Helen Kimble is not with us here in this courtroom today...BUT FROM HER
GRAVE, SHE CRIES OUT FOR JUSTICE!" --- Vincent T. Bugliosi; Lead
Prosecutor; Mock Trial; The State Of Indiana Vs. Richard Kimble; circa
1962
But I'm making up time now with these DVD's 
I just finished watching the last one in S1V1 with Mom (ny 2nd time around viewing the set). The last one we watched yesterday was "Glass Tightrope". I remember when I watched that one myself the 1st time a few weeks ago, it wasn't one of my favorites in the set at the time, but I'm finding out that the 2nd viewing of this show gives me a little more out of the ones that weren't my favorites the 1st time.
